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ChrIStChurCh’S CIrCulatIng paper Christchurch’s largest circulatingfree freeweeklY NEWSpaper THURSDAY February 14largeSt 2013
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THURSDAYFEBRUARY JANUARY 31 THURSDAY 142013 2013
• Young enjoy new larger premises • Twogymnasts Baptist churches to merge • International musicians coming Spreydon • Couple celebrates 70 years oftomarriage
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Chinese Movie theme forlegacy to continue floral festival p14 P5
rainbow Waitangi School warriorfriendships visits Day lyttelton tickets to ringo photos span 70 years p21 P6 Starr p28 P12
Cardboard cathedral, now
cardboard hospital EXCLUSIVE
Back for more Mock-up: Canterbury District Health Board chief medical officer Dr Nigel Millar shows a possible design layout for a general ward. Photo: Samantha Early
Marcus Gibbs and Samantha Early | marcus.gibbs@ctv.co.nz | samantha@mainlandpress.co.nz Darryl Symonds Mike White
CARDBOARD may not be the usual material for building THEY may not be the fastest, the strongest or the most agile, hospital wards, but in a warehouse in Riccarton that’s exactly but one thing the Three Stooges definitely have on their side is what’s happening. experience. Christchurch Hospital is being rebuilt from the ground up as With a combined age of 222, they’re preparing to take on this part of a multimillion dollar project, but before the foundations year’s Speight’s Coast to Coast. go down, teams are busy designing what the hospital’s interior In the newly created three-person teams section, retired hotelier would look like by making life-sized cardboard mock-ups. Eric Hunter, 79, will do the 140 kilometres of cycling, retired These include possibilities for rooms of up to 24 patients, engineer Mike White, 78, will be the oldest person ever to do the instead of the usual six. 33km mountain run and company director Darryl Symonds, the The earthquakes of the past two years caused more than $100 baby of the team at age 65, will take on the 67km kayak stage. million worth of damage to Canterbury’s hospital facilities. Along with about 800 other competitors, they will traverse the About 200 buildings and more than 1200 rooms needed South Island from Kumara Beach on the West Coast to Sumner repairs and 106 rooms were lost after two floors in Christchurch Beach, on February 8 and 9. Hospital’s Riverside Block were closed. The three are no strangers to the world-famous multisport Last year a half-billion-dollar redevelopment of the hospital race. was announced, and since then a team of 12 has been busy “I did it four times way back in the 80s, once on my own and designing multi-bedded rooms. then three times with each of my three children. Each year another Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) chief executive
Learn to
Eric Hunter
David Meates said the current ward designs in most of the city’s one of my kids said they wanted to do it with their dad. That was hospitals were very old and traditional. nice, but I threatened the fourth child not to ask me because I “And really not fit for purpose for how we deliver care today didn’t want to do it again,” Mr White said. and into the future so what we are looking at is stepping right However, Mr Hunter persuaded him to give it another go. away from any of the constraints with thinking about wards.” Mr Hunter and Mr Symonds have also done the event several Nursing director Nicky Topp said there were alternatives to times, winning the team section in its very first year, 1983. doing things the way they had always been done. While all three are active and fit, they’ve conceded they “We’re not taking a classic design and just making that the probably won’t be standing on the winner’s podium. Their goal? new hospital; we’re going to build a hospital for people.” “Staying alive!” Mr Hunter said. “We’re not going to bust our Ms Topp said if they were designing something different, they guts; we’re going to stay safe.” had to see how it would work. “We would be very embarrassed if we don’t finish,” Mr “It just gives you the opportunity of actually making it a Symonds said. working space before you build. It’s easier to change this kind They face plenty of challenges, with Mr White nursing a torn of thing, cardboard and beds, than it is to change plumbing and calf muscle and Mr Symonds testing out different kayaks, settling concrete.” on a wider sea kayak. “We’re making sure everything fits and the work flow is good, “Because of my fatness and its stability!” he said. the visibility of patients is good,” CDHB chief medical officer For Mr Hunter the first four kilometres will be the hardest –he Doctor Nigel Millar said.
Designers working on the concept for one of the new patient has to run from the start line to his bike. hubs are exploring the possibility of rooms with 16 to 24 beds, “I have arthritis in both my knees and I’m taking some form of instead of the traditional four to six beds per room. medication to make that a little easier for myself. The bike won’t Health Minister Tony Ryall took a tour through the models last be too difficult except that I will be with the slower riders and of week was left feeling impressed. course that’s not going to be easy because that’s very often where “Rebuilding a hospital is a very expensive thing to do and we the crashes are.” will be having the single biggest hospital project…in the history “I have done a lot of mountaineering and climbing and tramping of New Zealand happening here in Christchurch. What we are so the environment is no problem to me but you know I won’t be seeing here is smart ideas to provide better care for patients able to do it fast, that’s the trouble at my age,” Mr White said. within a tight budget and that’s pretty inspiring.” Mr Symonds seemed the most relaxed, even jetting to Japan for About 2000 people from the health sector have been through a skiing holiday the week before the race. the facility to have a look and give input and another 1000 are “Well it’s only a paddle, and I usually go for a paddle expected in the next month. anyway!” Once more permanent designs are in place the public will get For those who ask why – Eric Hunter asks why not. the chance to tour the warehouse. “We put a challenge out for anybody that can accumulate 222 See this story on CTV On Demand, www.ctv.co.nz – CTV years and still beat us!” News February 5, 2013. Story by Jo Kane and Samantha early
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